Tom Cole and his crew, in addition to Ryan from 3RPP and his staff, did a great job on this event. If you're on the fence about jumping into this league, do not hesitate.

The format is a LOT of fun. There's a little first-year-itis right now, but that's always to be expected. That said, Tom and company did a bang-up job. Tom was constantly roaming around, checking with everyone, touching base, making sure everything was going smoothly and that everyone was having a good time. He took each team's situation into consideration while planning out the weekend, and his hard work paid off in spades.

Now for the good stuff:

Smokin' Aces: Keep playing with such heart, guys! You are all a tenacious bunch of young guns, and never once blinked in the face of some tough, experienced competition. Mettle like that deserves recognition. You guys and F2F cleaned our clock off the break in our second game with that nice strong side move - well played! We heartily hope to see you guys out there next year!

Band of Brothers: Your team name says it all. You guys are our Western PA soul brothers, and I literally can't wait till we get to play with you guys (and gal) again. Those two games on Saturday were the best paintball moments of my life, and I was basking in the afterglow the whole ride home. Two incredibly hard-fought games. Hopefully, I'll get to jump into a scenario or two with you cats while home visiting relatives in the 'Burgh!

Failure to Flatline: Where do I start? A real classy bunch of strait-up shooters. Between jumping in to fill Smokin' Aces ranks, to offering your support and advice in our pit during the finals, you guys are a class act. Had a great time sharing a pavilion and chatting with you kids all weekend. People like F2F are the reason I keep coming back to woodsball. Can't wait to test ourselves against you guys next year (although I might wear extra pads for that one...)!

Drill Dozers: Well played, guys. Great communication, and way to work every little bunker to its best potential. Playing strong teams like yours is such a huge help in refining our game. We came away from that game with a big checklist of things to "drill" on for next year.

And, you're welcome for the extra-ugly score. I was the knucklehead that forgot to pull our home flag after the second reinsert. What can I say - hopefully that's my first and only n00b mistake of that caliber! For those that weren't in attendance, don't misunderstand my comment - the Dozers beat us soundly and my mistake wouldn't have changed the outcome. It just made our final score ultra-ugly, and standing in the dead box watching the points tick away was entirely frustrating for me.

In any case, the PennDragons were all commenting Monday morning that we wished were were playing one more day - an amazing weekend all around!

Here are some pics from the Pittsburgh UWL from the PennDragon perspective. The early pics are us packing and preparing but we have a few group photos of FTF, BoB and some action photos of the Heretics.

Here's a cross-posting of my summary from the UWL forum. It's a bit shorter because of restrictions on length:

It's now been a few days, so I might have a few incidents confused between the various games.

On Friday afternoon, we arrived, then went out for a field walk. On the field, we met Tom Cole, who explained a bit about the layout. At first we thought it looked too open and speedball-ish, but after walking around a bit we realized that it did have plenty of bunkers in the middle, and had woods near the swing bases. Plus, the field was actually quite a bit larger than we at first thought. As woodsballers, we prefer a larger field with more cover. But as older guys, we prefer not having to run too much!

During the field walk, we ran into the Heretics and met them for the first time. We unfortunately didn't get too many chances to talk to them throughout the rest of the tournament, but they all seemed like a really good group. We chatted for a bit, then split off to talk tactics and think about our battle plans for the coming days. We started running some quick drills with our faster guys to see which swing base we could reach faster from each starting point. What's kinda funny is that we saw the Heretics doing the same thing at about the same time. In any case, we did get to watch them play later in the weekend, and were all impressed with the way they moved and covered each other.

Incidentally, we also made a last-minute decision to change up our squad arrangements. We swapped some guys between our lighter/faster squad (Red) to our support squad (Blue). That last-minute shift was probably a really good move for us that influenced the way things turned out during each game. As a note, I was on Blue Squad, and therefore only saw one side of each game.

So on to our first game. Things were delayed a bit after the rain, so we didn't play until probably 11:00 or so. We were up against the Smokin' Aces. We had a total of 12 guys, so we had one play as sniper and one stay in the pit crew. Our adrenaline was pumping and we had some anxiety and nerves to deal with. From the break, we had our scout (Andrew, who was awesome the whole weekend) go right to the PbNation swing base, then our Red Squad followed him while Blue Squad went left to the FaceFull swing base. Blue Squad was really there to hold that side and only move up if we got the opportunity. The Smokin' Aces put up a good fight right off the bat, and several of our guys, myself included, wound up in the dead box. After that, we settled down and focused more on playing our roles. One of their players pushed up a bit too far into the center, and I was able to take him out from the flank. I only knew he was on the opposing team because his gun was pointed in the wrong direction! I believe we swept the field after that first reinsertion, pulled their flag, and had to walk back to the start. I'm not sure if we swept from both sides, but the left flank was able to move all the way around, where we connected with our own guys. I believe we reinserted and were able to take their flag again, but I can't be sure about that. It's been several days now, and my memory is failing me. End result: PennDragons 150, Smokin' Aces 27. They only had 7 or 8 players, so started off a couple guys short. Also, they were supposed to have the 2-man reinsertion, but the refs for some reason did not award it to them. They said we were supposed to have it, but we disagreed and never used it. We chatted a bit with the Smokin' Aces after the game. They are a young team, but they played with heart and never gave up. That was a trend they would continue throughout the weekend.

Our second game was against Band of Brothers. For the second time, we started from the top base, as we would in our third game that day (I think everyone will agree that the top base definitely had the advantage). This was the toughest paintball game we ever played. We used the same game plan as the first game, running our faster (Red) squad to the right (PbNation) base, and the support squad (Blue) covered the left side, only going after the left (Facefull) base if we got the opportunity. The BoB guys really covered each other well, and were able to get in some really good spots. Much of the game was a stalemate, but eventually they were able to crumble our left flank. It was such a tight match that we had trouble moving up on the left. Every time we tried, they drew a bead on us. The only thing that saved this game from being a rout is that our scout, Andrew, came back to defend our base at the very last minute. I don't think either side pulled the other base's flag, but I believe they got the 10-point pod in the center of the field. End result: Band of Brothers 74, PennDragons 56. This summary doesn't do justice to how furious the firefights were. I heard some players from other teams comment afterwards that it was a really fun game to watch.

Game three was a rematch against Band of Brothers. We drew the top base again and used the same game plan. It was again a really tough game. We were able to cover the left side pretty well, but that side was a stalemate for much of the game. I believe the right side was as well, but again, I couldn't see what was happening over there. At one point, I was shot out, but saw our guys reinserting from our base right at that time. I ran back, stepped in the start zone, got a thumbs up from the ref, and ran back in right away. After that, we pushed up the left side. I believe our sniper, Drew, and Blue Squad leader, Dave, were able to get around the left and get an angle on them at the Facefull (left) swing base. After that, we seemed to hold them off pretty well, though I wound up in the dead box. Some of our guys said we had pulled their flag, plus held the right swing base. It was another great game, but the final score was PennDragons 110, Band of Brothers 60. We met up with them on the field after the game and chatted a bit. They are another great group of players, and we sincerely hope we get to meet up with them again.

Day 2 was a perfect day for paintball. It was in the low to mid-60's for most of the day, and no rain. Our first game was a rematch against Smokin' Aces. They were still down a few, so some of the FTF guys volunteered to join them against us. That was fine with us--we'd rather play a tougher game and ensure that everyone has a good time than just wipe out an opposing team. One of our players had to leave early Sunday, but another had just arrived Saturday night. We still needed one player to sit in as pit crew, so I volunteered so that both of our other players could get a game in. I therefore didn't get to see much of the field this game. I can only comment that the Smokin' Aces/FTF guys were really taking it to us. We lost the toss and started at the lower base this time. We actually preferred to since we hadn't been at that base all weekend, and wanted to be familiar with it in case we lost the toss in the final game (which we did). Quite a few of our guys were coming back to the dead box splattered with paint, and needing more pods and air. Our heavy gunner, Joe, came running back when his Ego just broke on the field. Good thing he had an SLG as backup. At one point, the Smokin' Aces swept us off the field and pulled our flag. We wound up regrouping, reinserting, and then sweeping them off the field. The game ended a bit early, but we wound up winning that one after another close game. End result: PennDragons 108, Smokin' Aces 80.

Our final game for the Skills Division was against the Drill Dozers (from what I hear, made up of some guys from the East Coast Killers). We lost the toss and started at the lower base. Some of the FTF guys, who were done for the day, volunteered to help out in our pit crew, which we greatly appreciate. I played in this one, again on Blue Squad, holding the left side. We did our best, but were outmatched. The Drill Dozers played their bunkers very well and forced us to play their game rather than ours. We couldn't seem to make much progress on the right flank, and as much as we tried to hold the left, they eventually took us out and swept up that side. The first 10 minutes or so had been a stalemate, but after taking some key positions, they had the angles on us. They then swept us off the field and had to walk back. Upon the second reinsertion, we committed one of the dumbest tournament rookie mistakes ever, and forgot to pull our own flag back to our color. A few guys were debating over who should do it, and in the end nobody did. And of course, nobody else noticed, so the whole team is at fault there. It would not have made a difference since the Drill Dozers again swept our left side and took us out, but it made us feel really stupid. Still, we tried our best and learned from our mistakes. End result: Drill Dozers 140, PennDragons 30.

We finished out the day hanging out with the guys from FTF and Band of Brothers. We got some great group pictures with the FTF guys and traded info. Overall we had a fantastic time, and are really happy we made the effort. We will definitely be keeping in touch, and hope to meet up with them, as well as some of the other teams, in the future. And we definitely need a rematch against Band of Brothers!

Field walk- We all arrived in PA between 7:00pm Thursday night and 4:00am Friday morning and were able to get to the field Friday afternoon to check it out. We had a great field walk and ran into the guys from PennDragons. They were very friendly and we talked for a while. We wanted to give them all kinds of tips and things to look for, but since we didn’t know if we would be playing against them, we decided to play it a little closer to the vest than we usually do. We did offer them some encouragement though, because we know it can be hard preparing for your first woodsball tournament. Toward the end of the field walk, we felt like both sides were pretty even, so we started our running drills to find the best paths to our targets and get a sense of how much time we had to get there. We found out pretty quickly that while both sides looked pretty even, the side that most everyone referred to as “high side” had a distinct advantage once we started running the bunkers. This changed our strategy significantly for low side. On the way out we ran into a local who was looking to play the UWL and had some questions for us. Then we called it a night and went to get something to eat.

Failure To Flatline- Our rivals in the SPPL and UWL, FTF plays a style very similar to ours and our fights and score are always very close. So far, they have always had our numbers, but one of these days... We arrived at the field Saturday morning and got to joking with FTF a little when one of them mentioned that they were a guy short. I remembered the local and suggested him to fill in. He ended up playing with them all weekend.

We won the toss before the game and took the high side. On the break, our scout, Bill “Wiggles” Gabel ran to PBNation swing and took the flag, then we filled in behind him, sending our strong squad to the right side of the field and weak squad to the left side of the field. Unfortunately, left side positions that looked strong on the field walk turned out to be weak once the game was on, and our left side began to collapse. Meanwhile, we were feeling good on the right side and started to play more aggressive. Too aggressive, it turned out, as the right side also began to fall apart. As a result, two FTF were able to get to our base flag and pull it. After that, we settled down a little and FTF settled into a more defensive position, protecting their base flag that they knew we’d be gunning for (it was our only hope to make up the points necessary to win). In the end, we got close, but never did pull their flag. FTF 99-Heretics 63.

Smart Corps- This game was a testimony to the importance of walking the field before game time. Smart Corps showed up at the last minute and only had a half hour or so to walk the field before our game, so they were going to have to really rely on their superior gun skills to win this. This was also our first game against Smart Corp that actually counted for something because we’d only faced them in the SPPL where they were in the next division up so the points didn’t count. We decided to play a primarily defensive game, so we defended our base and PBNation swing base tooth and nail. Smart Corp held their base and Facefull swing base, and neither of us really got that close to pulling each others flags. Neither of us were able to recover the 10 pt. prop, either, though it was right there in front of both of us. Smart Corps pushed the left side heavily because (I am guessing) there were few bunkers on that side and they could rely on getting into gun fights with whomever was over there (fights they were likely to win). In the end, our plan worked out, and Smart Corps took a lot of things away from our game that they would change for their other games that weekend. Heretics 60-Smart Corps 60.

Band of Brothers- We were really looking forward to this game because we’d had BoB for refs at the UWL Chicago and they did a great job and were a lot of fun there, so we wanted to see what they had on the field. This was BoB’s first woodsball tournament so we were counting on them making one of the most common mistakes that new teams make when they start out; coming out too slow. We did it when we first started in woodsball, too, and paid for it. Once again we won the toss and took high side (though we did consider taking low side just in case we ended up getting low side against Drill Dozers, so that we’d know what worked on that side). We came out hard and made it to our bunkers at the 50, keeping BoB pinned back closer to their base (though after playing low side in the next game, staying back may have been their plan all along.) We pushed them off the field and took their base flag, then retreated to our base for the rebreak. BoB played much stiffer defense after the rebreak and, while we did take their base again, we had to fight much harder for it. It was a very fun game, and BoB had a very good start in woodsball. We hope to see them again next year. Heretics 144-Band of Brothers 33.

Drill Dozers – The Drill Dozers were a dark horse team, one that we’d never met before but we were hearing about them all weekend. They turned out to be primarily made up of East Coast Killers, a D1 Xball team from Pittsburgh. (Chicago Aftershock did this at Chicago UWL, playing under the name BBT Ninjas.) These guys were phenomenal players, playing very small behind their bunkers and displaying excellent gun fighting skills. This was the one game we lost the flip on, so we played low side for the first time all weekend. It was a hell of a shift for us. Low side had terrible bunkers. We did our best, but we couldn’t get the eliminations we needed and ended up losing our base flag with about 45 seconds left in the game. It was heartbreaking. This was our toughest game all weekend, as much because of the skills that Drill Dozers brought to their game as playing the low side for the first time. There is no way around it, they outplayed us and earned a good win. Its always a pleasure to play against top notch opponents (not as much a pleasure as beating them, of couse, haha). We needed to do well in this game (score 97 points) to play in the Open Finals, but Drill Dozers took it. Drill Dozers 117 – Heretics 45.